Happy things, tasty food and good design

Mini Party Scones

Do not trust these seemingly innocent baked goods. Mini items are deceptive. Because they’re so small, they hardly count as food. So you pop one of babies into your mouth each time you walk by and before you know it, you’ve eaten ten. True story. It happened to me and it may happen to you.

Scones are not too different in composition from the American biscuit, though they’re usually eaten differently. Cheap and filling, they’re never far away from the menus of cafes and lunchrooms and often one of the first things a child will bake in school cooking class.

Sometimes there are different ways to say a word: the posh way and the common way. I’ve always called a scone a “skon” which rhymes with con, swan and Tron, but the posh way to pronounce it would be to call it a “skone” rhymes with bone, phone and loan. I play pretend posh and I jokingly call it “skone” so often that it’s part of my vocabulary now. So call it “skon” or “skone”, it’s up to you and perhaps the company you keep.

This recipe is adapted from the basic Edmonds Cookbook recipe and is begging to be experimented on with different flavours. It probably doesn’t surprise you that I’m a savoury kind of girl rather than a sweet tooth. Savoury, herb filled, cheesey scones are my preference over scones with cream and jam. Scones are very cheap to make and fun to experiment with. Once cooled, the scones can be split in half and used as a base to load even more toppings onto. I took a batch of these to work yesterday and the boys thought they were too small, while the girls all thought they were the perfect size. So maybe they could also be called girl-scones.

This really is my style of baking. The measurements are forgiving, there’s no yeast to fail on you, no resting or proofing time and kneading is minimal. Seriously, if you knead this dough to much, your scones will be tough. Handle as little as possible.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Cut butter into small cubes, then using your clean, dry hands, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the pepperoni, herbs, cheeses and onion. Stir well.

Add milk and combine with a butter knife to form a soft dough. Knead a few times in the bowl and then turn out onto a chopping board or bench that has been lightly dusted with flour.

Press dough out to about 2cm thick (less than 1 inch). If your dough is too thick your scones will rise up and fall over. Cut out circles using a 4cm (1.5″) round cookie cutter. Place dough rounds onto a lightly floured oven tray, spacing about 4cm apart. Knead together the dough offcuts and repeat until all dough is used.

Brush rounds with milk and place in top half of oven. Bake for 10 minutes until scones have doubled in height and golden with crisp edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack (for crisp scones) or covered with a teatowel (for soft scones). Serve hot or cold or zapped in the microwave and optional butter.

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I am Genie, a designer/photographer obsessed with food and bunnies. I live in Auckland, New Zealand with my husband, The Koala. I write about my hedonistic ways and I love the mantra "Eat well, travel often". I prefer not to write about myself in third person.
www.bunnyeatsdesign.com

Delectable. I loved Auckland for the savoury muffins, which aren’t as common in cafes in London, so I was planning on making some but maybe I shall just try my hand at these cute things! But whilst I’m on the note, do you have any good ideas for savoury muffin flavours?

Oh, you should make scones, they’re so easy. Even I can do it 🙂 What I like about these is that the recipe is pretty forgiving. I can’t say I make a lot of muffins, at our house, mini quiche are the most prized and popular baked snack. If you have access to fresh herbs, they’ll always make your baking taste amazing. I find you can use similar ingredients for savoury quiche, muffins and scones. Some other ideas: Spinach and feta, ham and cheddar, salmon and cream cheese….can you tell I like cheese?